http://www.markoconnor.com http://www.youtube.com/user/MarkOConnor Scott Goldman, Vice President of the Grammy Foundation and MusiCares interviews Mark O'Connor on his career in music, his Grammy winning and nominated recordings, his childhood years, teachers, mentors, bands and the O'Connor Method. It is an in-depth, candid and revealing interview of one of the great musician of our time. July 27th, 2015 Mark O'Connor is an astonishingly versatile American violinist and composer who has had exceptional success melding various genres of music -- country and bluegrass, jazz, and classical -- into his own unique style and voice. This has resulted in two Grammy awards; dozens of his own albums; collaborations with a diversity of other musicians, such as Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, Renée Fleming, James Taylor, Christ Thile, Alison Krauss, and Marin Alsop; and a playing method program widely used by string students. O'Connor first took classical guitar lessons as a child and taught himself to play flamenco music, before beginning fiddle lessons at age 11. Soon he was studying with Benny Thomasson, an icon of American fiddling. In his late teens, O'Connor next became a student of jazz violinist Stephane Grapelli, touring with him as well. O'Connor then worked with Dave Grisman and his Quintet and with Steve Morse of the Dregs. Between 1975 and 1982, O'Connor won competitions as a guitarist, fiddler, and mandolinist. He moved to Nashville in 1983, becoming a session player for many country stars, such as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Emmylou Harris, and Randy Travis. O'Connor, Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, and Sam Bush formed the band Strength in Numbers in 1986, which played some of O'Connor's own pieces. His first Grammy award came in 1991 for his album New Nashville Cats. His music became increasingly sophisticated, utilizing elements of folk, classical, jazz, and world music -- what he calls the "four pillars of string playing," while he absorbed more technical knowledge from artists like Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Yehudi Menhuin, and Pinchas Zukerman. His first album on Sony Classical, Appalachia Waltz (1996), with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and bassist Edgar Meyer, impressed classical critics with its originality and attractiveness and became a huge crossover hit. The trio's next album, Appalachia Journey (2000), won O'Connor his second Grammy award. His Fiddle Concerto, composed in 1993, has been performed around the world hundreds of times. By 2010, he had written another six concertos and the Americana Symphony, recorded by Marin Alsop and the Baltimore Symphony. He recorded his String Quartets No. 2 "Bluegrass" and No. 3 "Old-Time" in 2009 with Ida Kavafian, Paul Neubauer, and Matt Haimovitz. That same year saw the publication of the first book of his string teaching method. The Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Field, Gloriae Dei Cantores, the Eroica Trio -- for whom he wrote Poets and Prophets, inspired by the music of Johnny Cash -- and film director Ken Burns are among those who have commissioned new music from O'Connor. The 2001 release, Hot Swing!, with Jon Burr and Frank Vignola, was a tribute to Grappelli; the same Hot Swing Trio released Live in New York in 2009. He had Renée Fleming, Alison Krauss, and James Taylor among his guests for An Appalachian Christmas (2011), which also became an annual touring show. In 2015, O'Connor and his wife Maggie released their first album together, Duo. Multi Grammy-winning Mark O’Connor has authored the fastest growing string method in a generation and based upon much research, testing and artistic skills. The O'Connor Method for violin, viola, cello and orchestra. Music from United States, Mexico, Latin American and Canada. American Classical Music, Hoedowns, Blues, Spirituals, Ragtime, Jazz, Bach, Baroque, Hymns, Bluegrass, Folk Songs, Rock, Ranchero, Jigs, Choros, modern compositions and much more. Technique, Solo, Ensemble, String Orchestra, Classics, Creativity, Improvisation, Cultural Diversity, Music of different eras, Individual expression. 500 hundred years of music for the violin and strings that creates relevance to the 21st century. For more information on the O'Connor Method for violin, viola, cello and orchestra, please visit http://www.oconnormethod.com Playlist created by The O'Connor Method on YouTube. Watch here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL30538F811506AE84&feature;=mh_lolz For more information on Mark O'Connor, String Camps, The O'Connor Method, ensembles, repertoire, sheet music and more, please visit http://www.markoconnor.com http://www.oconnormethodcampnyc.com https://twitter.com/#!/markoconnor35 http://www.facebook.com/markoconnorfanpage http://americanstrings.blogspot.com

• published: 03 Sep 2015
• views: 36